In Other News

Turns out our receiver is another casualty to the lightening strike. I was called by the repair company yesterday to inform me that there are many "burnt" out parts and that it would cost more to repair than to replace....grrr!!!

At least I have not filed the homeowners claim yet. This also makes me want to check out our cd player and our tape deck (yes I still have a tape deck), which were both plugged into the reciever to make sure they are okay. I need to get to the store to do some comparison shopping so we can replace the reciever and put the living room back together.

We are supposed to get some serious rain from Ernesto over the next twenty four hours and I have a gutter on the back of my house that is practically falling off. I guess I need to get out there this morning and see if I can fix it before all hell breaks loose. I also need to finish up the detail work in our main bathroom. The floor and vanity are in, just need to do some wall touch up painting and hang the new towel racks.

Today is my sister and her husband's anniversary!!!!! They had a lovely wedding in Southern Oregon a few years ago and it was an absolutely glorious day. I am so happy for them to have found each other. Congrats, you guys.

My grandfather will be 95 this year. Wow!!!! His birthday is later this week. I am sure my family on the West coast is planning quite the shindig for him. Unfortunately, I can't be there but I am sending good thoughts and gifts his way. We love you, Grandpa.

I didn't have soccer practice yesterday because of some heavy rain and lightening. I need to get some exercise in today (as much as I can on this ankle), so I don't die on Sunday when I have to run again (in probably 105 index). I think I might walk on a trail that I want to hide a geocache on. In fact, this weather (cloudy and rainy) is perfect geocaching weather because there are less people out and about and searching for them is less obvious.

So I guess I better get moving so I can get that gutter fixed before I do anything else. Hasta luego.

Sun

My tan (I know, we aren't supposed to tan these days) from earlier this summer has faded. I had gotten a base tan before we spent some time at the beach so I wouldn't get burned there and be miserable. It worked and when we came home from the beach, I was nice and brown without any peeling, or redness. Now, if you know me, this is not brown brown...I tend to not have enough patience for tanning much so I never look like a tanning booth girl with the oompa loompa look, just a healthly glow minus the pastey white winter gleam.

Anyhow, the last few days I have thought I need to get out and get some sun on my skin. Nothing drastic just 20 minutes on each side. It is a chance to enjoy being outside, read and relax a bit from all the other things I should be doing. Yesterday ended up getting wasted away with other things so I told myself I would do it for sure today.

Well, I just checked the weather, and not only are we having a heat index w/humidity of 105 today, it just clouded over with thunder clouds....grrr. We need the rain so I won't complain too much (especially since I didn't get my butt out to water this morning) but I was thinking the storms wouldn't be here until later this afternoon.

Oh well, it is not like I don't have tons of other things on my to do list to get to....

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

We had a soccer game yesterday and I rolled my ankle out during the first half. I was determined to play the whole game so I walked it off but it hurt like a bitch and it is really sore and swollen today.

I iced it when I got home and then soaked in the hot tub and iced it again. I will probably take it easy at practice on Wednesday so that hopefully I can play again on Sunday...we'll see.

I was so pissed when I did it because I knew it meant rehabing it for a while and that always takes time and soccer is one of my two weekly activities I can count on for unadulterated exercise I don't have to think about.

At least it hasn't turned blue yet, I figured after running on it the rest of the game, it would just turn black and blue in protest...

Indoor Construction

We started the replacement of the flooring and vanity in our main bathroom today. Shouldn't be a huge deal but hopefully will look really nice when we are done.

We took out everything (including the toilet and old vanity) and cleaned it up, patched the walls where they needed it and now are about ready to start laying the floor. I doubt we will have the entire thing done today but definitely by the end of the weekend.

We just got home from Lowe's buying all the stuff we need. I'll post pics as soon as I can.

Frog Pee

Well, as I was walking out the front door this morning, I felt this wet stuff on my arm from above. I looked to the top of our storm door and saw a bit of what looked like water on there. So I checked around for a minute and all of a sudden, I saw three little heads peek out from the top of the door. There were three little frogs hanging out in the crack along the top of the storm door. I don't know if there was water up there that was splashed on me when I startled them (let's hope), or if they peed on me when I startled them...oooooh!

Regardless, I was afraid they would get smooshed when I shut the door, so I shooed them out of there and went on my merry way, trying hard not to think about that splash on my arm and its origin.

Unsatisfying

While practice was good for the exercise requirements in my life, overall it was pretty unsatisfying. I don't know why exactly but I guess part of it was that I was in a bit of a bad mood yesterday for some unknown reason. Another thing was that I forgot to change my bra when I got ready for practice so I was uncomfortable the entire time because I am used to wearing a sports bra when I exercise. Then there was the issue that I left the water bottle I had prepared to bring at home, so I was without water the entire time. It was 96 degrees out and we had some seriously muggy skies when practice started.

I guess the combination of things put me out of sorts and I wasn't really up for goofing around much. We had to do a bunch of drills, which were okay but then once we started scrimmaging, it wasn't that productive and I just wanted/needed to get out of there. I was a bit bummed because usually after practice I am feeling alive and invigorated. Oh well, there is always next week.

There Are Three

I was wrong...instead of two baby fish, we have three. Two of them are black and with all the swimming around that is going on in that tank, I just couldn't keep track, but I saw all three of them up front the other day.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

One of grandpas had a birthday today...he doesn't live close to us so we didn't get to celebrate with him but last year, he was visiting us over his birthday and we all went out for dinner together. It was really nice.

I hope he had a nice birthday at home today. We will call him tomorrow to wish him the best.

We love you, Grandpa, Happy Birthday!!!!

Myst, Riven and the Like

My dad hooked me and my sister on Myst many years ago. I played it for some time, but didn't actually ever finish the game. I had an idea how it turned out but didn't see it for myself. My dad bought Riven for me after a while and I played it diligently on my laptop until one day, the graphics were just too much for the poor thing. I didn't finish it either. My sister bought the next one for me and I have not even loaded it because I really feel like I should finish the first two before I get started in a third. I don't know if the original Myst I have will even load on my XP PC, but I might try it out so I can finish it up. I still have my notes (I think). I know that Riven will play on my PC, and now that I have a better graphics card in it, I am sure it will do fine.

I don't know why I just thought of this just now but I did and it made me want a nice wet raining day to happen so I would have an excuse for hanging out in the house doing nothing (that is until school starts in September, of course).

NPR : France Commits 200 Troops to Lead Lebanon Force

There seems to be two sides to the Lebanese issue. When this entire thing first came to a head, many on the news said that Lebanon had refused or at least didn't make much of an effort to get Hezbollah out of their country, even though they weren't necessarily "supporting" them. Most of their support was coming from Syria and Iran. This made it sound like Lebanon did mind that Hezbollah was there. I don't know if that is true or not.

What I do know is that Lebanon is a young country that doesn't have the finances that some of its neighbors do. Hezbollah (regardless of its terrorist activities) was providing social support for a segment of the Lebanonese population which in reality took the pressure to support them off Lebanon's official government. Perhaps Lebanon didn't mind this, perhaps they didn't know what to do about it.

The thing I find interesting about France's statements regarding the drop from 2000 troops to 200 troops is that they say they want Lebanon to deal with the Hezbollah issue first, before they will commit more UN soldiers. Well, if Lebanon was in a position to get Hezbollah out on their own, don't we all think they would have done it before now?

I don't know what the right answer is for this issue, but I know that Lebanon can't be thrown back to dealing with this entire thing without some kind of international support or we will see this same fighting occur again in a short time, and all the same finger pointing going on. If Hezbollah is the terrorist organization it is reputed to be (regardless of whatever kind of "social activities" it uses to validate itself), then it needs to be dealt with by the international community just like the other organizations (Al Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, and others) have been.

Sounds of Footsteps

When I was a kid I remember being very proud of the fact that I could tell who was walking through the house by the sound of their footsteps. My sister (at the time) would always be running, never walking so she was an easy one. My dad had a heavy step that sort of shuffled if he was wearing his Birkenstocks, and my mom had an ankle that would crack when she walked.

It seems that I have inherited my mother's cracking ankle. It doesn't crack with every step but it does have a big crack any time it has been sitting in the same position for very long. Everytime it cracks, it reminds me of her....weird I know but it does.

X-rays won't detect liquid or gel bombs - Yahoo! News

Do they really need to put it on the news that all of our current technology can't detect liquid bombs? Seems like sometimes we put a little too much info out there...

I think it is funny too that they mention in the article that shoe x-rays are not mandatory...funny because every airport I have been in since 9/11 has required me to remove my shoes. Didn't know it wasn't mandatory.

Yesterday I saw story on CNN about a town in Alaska that received 200,000 dollars for homeland security and they have put up cameras all over town to reduce their threat from terrorists. Most of the cameras face the port and there is a small argument for why they have them. What I find funny is that they have also made most of the cameras available on their public website...so I guess now the terrorists (if there were to be any) don't have to even go there for a recon...they can just do it over the web. Here is a link to the story but not the CNN version...

Junk Mail Folder

I have finally turned off my junk mail folder in 3 of my email accounts with Yahoo. I was worried for some time that I would be missing emails from someone that Yahoo would think were junk, but it doesn't seem like I transfer much from junk to my inbox so in frustration the other day with the loads of cr@p I get in my junk box everyday (at least on my two retail accounts), I turned off the boxes. So Yahoo still filters spam out but doesn't send it anywhere, it is just deleted.

It is amazing how much nicer checking email has become...I can't believe it. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. So if you have been emailing me and can't get through, it might be because Yahoo thinks you are spam. At least you can email me at this email address, because its bulk folder is still functioning...

Amazing Skies

Tonight is one of the nights that the August meteor shower is supposed to be the best. We have an absolutely crystal clear sky and because I am in a rural area with no street lights it is dark as anything outside so the stars just jump out at you....it is truly amazing. The other nice thing about the rural area is that it is super quiet and all you can hear are the crickets chirping.

I went out and laid on the hot tub cover for a bit to watch the skies tonight. Watching stars always takes me back to my childhood and sitting in the backyard on 3rd street watching stars with my dad. We also watched for Skylab when it was falling from orbit in that same backyard and I think there were quite a few lightening storms as well. I am so thankful that my parents took the time to show me the wonders of this amazing planet that we live on when I was a kid.

Anyhow, I didn't see any "falling stars" but it is early yet. If I wake up sometime tonight, I just might climb out of bed, go out and watch the stars for a bit...I would love to catch a few of them falling.

Storms

We had a lightening storm the other night that was just lovely. It was not as big and loud as some of the recent ones but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

I noticed it right before going to bed, I was on the computer, and I could see the lightening through the window but couldn't really hear it. I shut down the computer and turned off all the lights. I told J I was going to the porch to watch the storm for a few minutes.

I went outside and sat on our front porch. It wasn't raining but the air was thick with humidity and you could feel the rain building up in it. I sat there for a few minutes watching the show in the distance. I could only just barely hear it so I know it was far away. There were lightening bugs flying around and I wondered if they thought the lightening was talking to them...

We Have Babies

Apparently our mollies had babies and two of them survived...

I am pretty sure they have been having babies all along (they are live bearers) but because we have tetras in there, I assumed they were being consumed before they got a chance to live.

In the last few weeks, our automatic feeder has been running and probably feeding the fish a bit more than necessary, which has apparently made it less desirable to eat fellow fish. I cleaned the tank the other day and afterwards was checking out the fish and saw these two little guys (only one is pictured here)...they are so cute...mini fish.

Now You See It...Now You Don't

This was our tree and landscaping this morning before the tree guys came. See how lovely it looks next to our raised bed? See how nice the shade is?

This is our backyard in the same spot this evening. No shade, poor hostas are going to bake, and the yard looks naked. I am glad I wasn't here, it would have made me cry. I have some cleaning up to do, and we definitely need to get another tree in there fast for some shade...

Sorry, poor tree, but I couldn't do anything to help you. At least now you are not suffering...

Invaders

I took this macro of this catapiller that was climbing on two of our tomato plants the other night. This is the better of three photos but the other catapillar we found had these white fuzzy things all over its back...don't know if they were little ones or just some kind of protectant but it looked very weird. If you look closely at this one, you can see that it has a thorn sticking up from its tail end...self defense I assume.

This second pic is one of several little sap hills that are on our tree that has to be taken out. I had the tree guy come out today and he said we definitely have to take it out. Apparently the chemical they used to use on these little buggers is no longer allowed so there is nothing to do but get rid of the tree. We have decided that it is worth it to have someone else take it out and grind the stump than do it ourselves.

We can file a claim for storm damage with our insurance and we can get some money back on the replacement tree that we will have to put in, so that there will be some shade in that yard for the new landscaping. I took some pictures today of what it looks like with the tree and we'll see how drastically it looks when the tree is gone. We might be able to get it out today, otherwise it will be in the next few weeks. I am really bummed that we are losing it. Feels like I am killing a friend, but I know that it is already dying so perhaps I am keeping it from suffering and saving the other trees from possible infection.

Busy, busy, busy

Wow...the last few days have been busy and it isn't slowing down today either. We have friends that moved here yesterday so for a couple of days, I and another friend have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get things ready for them. Their new house was left filthy by the old owners so we spent 7 hours on Saturday cleaning things up. Then we wanted to make sure their pool (yes they have a pool) was working correctly and clean, and that some of the small things you need right away when you get some where were available to them.

On top of that, I have the tree issue to deal with so I have been playing phone tag with tree people, electricians, and insurance people. I still need to get registered for my last class in my program for school. I need to replant some plants in the yard and house, clean house, do laundry, clean the fish tank and pay some bills. Blogging is probably the last thing I need to be doing but doing it feels like I am checking off a block on the list so here I am.

I better go, day will be filled from top to bottom and I still have practice tonight too.